SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 8 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

Option (b) On means the same as Upon before an -ing form ('on having completed'), so the blank has two defensible fillers; this card follows SSC's key, which marks Upon.

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

Select the correct option: ___ having completed the feasibility study, the team requested additional funding.

(a)Having
(b)On
(c)Upon
(d)Despite

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The blank sits before having completed, an -ing form, so it needs a preposition that can take one.

Upon + -ing means 'immediately after': the study was finished, and the request for money followed.

Upon having completed the feasibility study, the team requested additional funding → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Having — Having would print 'Having having completed', the same word twice. The perfect -ing form is already in the sentence, so the blank cannot repeat it.
(b)
On — On + -ing also means 'immediately after', as in 'On hearing the news, she left', so 'On having completed' is sound English. Upon is the formal form of on, and the key marks upon.
(d)
Despite — Despite marks a contrast, as in 'despite having no funds'. Nothing in the sentence sets finishing the study against asking for money, so there is no contrast for despite to mark.

Concept

On and upon before an -ing form mean 'immediately after' or 'as a result of': On arriving, he called home. Upon is the more formal of the two, with the same meaning.

Having completed is a perfect -ing form. It already marks the study as finished before the request, so the preposition only has to link the two events.

Despite + -ing is the contrast pattern: Despite having completed the study, the team was unsure how to proceed.

An honest caveat: on and upon are interchangeable here, so option (b) is as grammatical as the keyed option. The key marks upon, and this card follows the key; see the dispute note.

Key facts

On or upon + -ing means immediately after: On hearing the news, she left.
Upon is a more formal form of on.
Despite + -ing marks contrast: despite having tried hard.
Having + past participle is the perfect -ing form: having completed.

Study next

Participle clauses: Having finished the work, he leftDangling participles: the -ing clause must share the main clause's subjectDespite, in spite of and although: contrast before a phrase and before a clause

Common traps

Choosing despite because it is a familiar word before having, without checking for a contrast
Choosing having because 'Having completed ...' is a familiar opening, without noticing the having already printed after the blank

A sentence opening with a perfect participle, 'Having known that', is tested at 17 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.11, where the key marks the error in they ran fastly instead.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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